DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Reigning NASCAR Cup Series champion Joey Logano and Florida native Aric Almirola each won their Bluegreen Vacations Duel at Daytona qualifying races at Daytona International Speedway Thursday night – the event setting the starting order for Sunday’s DAYTONA 500.
Logano’s No. 22 Team Penske Ford led 25 of the 60 caution-free laps in the opening race, and his Team Penske teammate Ryan Blaney led a race-best 30 laps, finishing third – behind Logano, and Joe Gibbs Racing driver Christopher Bell, who crossed the finish line a mere .018-seconds after Logano.
In the late race, Almirola led only 17 laps but took the lead for good in the No. 10 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford with two laps remaining and held off fellow Ford driver Austin Cindric and Chase Elliott by a slight .122-second in a race that featured more drama; two caution periods including one that ultimately took out the dominant car.
Kyle Busch led the most laps (28) in the second Duel, but his No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet was hit from behind by Daniel Suarez’s No. 99 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet and wrecked from the lead with 18 laps remaining.
For Almirola, it marks his second Duel victory, the fourth for his Stewart-Haas Racing team. The Tampa, Fla. native – who originally announced he was going to retire at the end of the 2022 season only to re-commit to the team – earned his first career NASCAR Cup Series win at Daytona International Speedway in the 2014 summer race.
“Drew (Blickensderfer, crew chief) said this Smithfield Ford Mustang was going to be fast, but he said I would probably have my hands full,” said Aric Almirola, driver of the No. 10 Smithfield Ford Mustang. “We kind of went for it in qualifying and put speed in the car and sacrificed some handling, and as you could see tonight it was a handful, but, man, this is so cool. Daytona is such a special place to me. I grew up sitting in those grandstands dreaming about racing here. I want that one on Sunday, though. We’re going to keep focused on that one. The job is not finished.”
HR Finish:
● Aric Almirola (Started 2nd, Finished 1st / Running, completed 60 of 60 laps in Duel No. 2)
● Kevin Harvick (Started 9th, Finished 6th / Running, completed 60 of 60 laps in Duel No. 1)
● Ryan Preece (Started 8th, Finished 10th / Running, completed 60 of 60 laps in Duel No. 2)
● Chase Briscoe (Started 3rd, Finished 15th / Running, completed 60 of 60 laps in Duel No. 2)
Drivers earning odd-numbered positions from Wednesday’s pole qualifying session were assigned to the first Duel race. Drivers earning even-numbered positions from pole qualifying competed in the second Duel race. The starting positions for each Duel race were based on qualifying times.
This was Almirola’s second career Duel win. He earned his first Duel victory in 2021. Almirola led five times for 17 laps in his Duel race.
Almirola scored 10 regular-season points, Harvick garnered five points and Preece picked up one point. Only the top 10 finishers in each Duel were awarded regular-season points.
Almirola will start fourth in the Daytona 500. His best Daytona 500 finish is fourth, earned in 2017.
Harvick will start 13th in the Daytona 500. He won the 2007 Daytona 500.
Preece will start 20th in the Daytona 500. His best Daytona 500 finish is sixth, earned in 2021.
Briscoe will start 30th in the Daytona 500. His best Daytona 500 finish is third, earned last year.
Kevin Harvick, driver of the No. 4 Busch Light #Busch401K Ford Mustang said, “Our Busch Light Ford Mustang seemed to do all the things that I needed it to do. The handling is fine. The Toyotas were able to do a couple of things speed-wise that I really couldn’t do. I was more defensive than I was offensive, so I was kind of stuck with what I had there and then I got out by myself and I was really stuck. They did a good job. You never know how those races are gonna shake out at the end, but it was a good start.”
Ryan Preece, the driver of the No. 41 HaasTooling.com Ford Mustang, added, “It was all track position tonight. It’s too hard to make moves and move forward out there, so it’s all about track position. We can’t give up the track position on Sunday. We’ve got to make up a few spots, get that track position with our HaasTooling.com Ford Mustang, and keep it. When you get it, protect it. It’s as simple as that. That’s what it’s going to take when we go out there to race.”
“I told my wife at the end of the first Duel, ‘Well, that one was calm, so ours is going to be chaos,” said Chase Briscoe, driver of the No. 14 Mahindra Tractors Ford Mustang. “I feel like that’s just always how these go. For us, we had a really good starting spot in third. We were just really loose. I felt like I was going to crash at any point. We got a caution early and decided to try to work on it, and then we got on the other side. We were pretty committed to trying to qualify on the front row, and when you do that, your handling suffers big. Balance-wise, we’re way off. It sucks that we qualified sixth and now we’re going to start 30th in the 500 but, fortunately, we can change our Mahindra Tractors Ford Mustang overnight and get it to where it drives pretty good.”
Next Up:
The 65th running of the Daytona 500 takes place at 2:30 p.m. ET on Sunday with live coverage provided by FOX and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
